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Label:A coal miner for over thirty-five years, Jack Savitsky began working in the Pennsylvania coal mines after finishing the sixth grade. To earn extra money, he painted signs for the mines and wall murals for taverns. It appears that Savitsky gave up his artistic endeavors in the early 1940s but then took them up again in 1959, after the closing of the mine where he worked and a diagnosis of black lung disease. He depicted his surroundings and the life he knew best, presenting images of the landscape of Pennsylvania's coal country and scenes of miners and mining life.